Draft Commission Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture and forestry sector and in rural areas 2014 to 2020 (draft GL) for information and feedback (CLOSED)

Draft Commission Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture and forestry sector and in rural areas 2014 to 2020 (draft GL) for information and feedback (CLOSED)

State aid

Draft Commission Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture and forestry sector and in rural areas 2014 to 2020 (draft GL) for information and feedback (CLOSED)

Title

Draft Commission Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture and forestry sector and in rural areas 2014 to 2020 (draft GL) for information and feedback

Policy field

Agriculture, forestry and rural development

Target groups

This draft is made public to inform institutions, public authorities, citizens, companies, organisations and all other stakeholders affected by the agricultural State aid instruments. Comments are particularly sought from the national authorities dealing with the State aid measures covered by GL.

Period of consultation

From 24 February to 24 March 2014

Description

State funding meeting the criteria of Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) constitutes State aid. Pursuant to Article 108(3) TFEU, Member States (MS) have to notify their plans to grant or alter any of their State aids to the Commission. Taking account of the specificities of the agricultural sector the Commission adopted the 2007-2013 GL applicable to the activities linked to the production, processing or marketing of products listed in Annex I to the TFEU. The GL cover measures linked to rural development (RD), risk and crisis management, forestry and other types of measures such as aid for advertising of agricultural products and aid linked to energy tax exemptions.

The 2007-2013 GL were applicable as from 1 January 2007 and were prolonged in December 2013 to apply until 30 June 2014. They aim at setting the general criteria which will be used by the Commission when assessing the notifications of the MS.

With more than 1000 measures introduced since its entry into force, the current GL have been extensively used by MS. In 2013 aid granted in accordance with the 2007-2013 GL amounted to EUR 7500 million.

The Commission launched, with its Communication on State aid Modernisation (SAM), of 8 May 2012, a broad review of State aid rules. State aid enforcement should facilitate sustainable, smart and inclusive growth, focus on cases with the biggest impact on the single market and streamline the rules and provide for faster, better informed and more robust decisions. The review of the GL takes, on the one hand, place in the context of that SAM initiative of the Commission and aims at contributing to the SAM objectives, with a particular focus on simplification and coherence between the different legal instruments in the field of State aid.

On the other hand, the draft GL largely reflect the post 2013 RD Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005. There is, firstly, a need to mirror the rules of that Regulation in order to ensure that State aid clearance can be given for measures foreseen in the RD programmes. This is the case for all activities which, strictly speaking, are no agricultural activities. Secondly, it is the intention to enhance the objectives of the RD policy by enabling MS to pursue RD type of measures outside their RD programmes purely financed from their own budgets.

Finally, the GL will ensure that MS and stakeholders have a clear set of rules as a reference point for the development of their State aid policies. This will, in particular, be important for the expenditure under EU RD policy during the programming period 2014-2020.

The draft text of the future GL is made available for information and feedback and introduces new features as compared to the current rules:

- new aid measure to compensate for damage caused by protected animals;- simplification and clarification of rules combined with safeguards;- closer alignment to the new RD policy (2014-2020);- close alignment with the horizontal State aid rules.

The Commission already invited the MS and stakeholders to provide comments for the review of the GL 2007-2013. That public consultation, based on a questionnaire, took place between 20/12/2012 and 20/03/2013.

How to submit your feedback

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